Our final installation for today.
There is a lot of talk about the difference between a traveler and a tourist. Most travelers consider themselves independent of tourist, higher on the food chain of intelligent and genuine travel so to speak. The odd thing is that ‘tourists’ don’t care about this distinction and everyone else from family members, friends, locals and tourism agents see the two as identical. So it is actually a distinction that is found only in the individual ‘travelers’ minds. And even when you take a survey of this distinction among travelers it is vague, varying and inconsistent. Some travelers define their status based on length of stay, others on the purpose of the trip, and still others on the budget or the accommodations or the modes of transport used. The variation might account for the lack of any set definition or distinction of a ‘traveler.’
I’ve met both travelers and tourist on this trip and based on my own personal definition, I have been both as well. My definition – whose validity is as concrete and permanent as my current address (which is to say non-existent) - is based on three criteria: what you leave behind, what you forego, and what you give up.
According to me, a tourist leaves behind very little, foregoes very little in the way of comfort or normalcy and gives up only on a short-term basis. A tourist does not leave behind a job or any important events because they plan their trip as to avoid leaving anything that they can’t return to immediately and without disturbing much of their day-to-day routine. The tourist – because of their length of stay and the promise of continued income upon return – can afford to partake in many attractions and activities that a traveler must forego. Anything that a tourist gives up be it tap water for drinking, consistent hot showers or other western comforts, is only a short-term issue.
A traveler does all these things – leaving behind, foregoing, and giving up – in excess and with a greater degree of permanence than does a tourist. They do leave behind jobs and opportunities and family events. The traveler often foregoes the attractions labeled as ‘touristy’ based on principle or budget. And the travel frequently – if not continually – gives up western comforts and normalcy opting instead for the cheaper route which is often referred to as being more ‘genuine’ though that is debatable.
But, as I mentioned earlier, I have been both on this trip which suggests a degree of flexibility in both definitions. It’s more of a sliding scale with TOURIST on one end and TRAVELER on the other and a mixture of characteristics in between.
And that was a very long introduction to the following topics which at first glance seem unrelated to the topic of tourist versus traveler.
The following stories are about the activities we did while in Thailand. Three activities actually: rock climbing, scuba diving, and our visit to the elephant park. On the surface, these activities seem very touristy indeed as they are the reason many people come to Thailand for vacation. What I would like to show you, though, is how these activities are experienced in the context of a traveler.
Rock climbing might seem like the least ‘touristy’ of the activities as it requires perhaps a little more adventuresome nature and a prior disposition towards the “edge of the cliff” mentality but upon arrival in world-renown rock climbing area of Krabi we were immediately bombarded by advertisements for guided rock climbing lessons. The monetary demons of tourism were tied securely to this rock climbing haven. The three of us are far from experts so the temptation to hire a guide was strong. Had it not been for a fortunate twist of fate we might have done just that.
We had already scoped out and priced the various schools and, despite being very expensive, had decided to pay for a lesson. Before signing the dotted line we took a walk around and discovered an excellent bouldering wall on the far shore.
There were a couple of guys standing around while one lean guy attempted to climb one of the limestone stalactites hanging from the wall. It was taking some difficult maneuvers and a crowd was gathering. After repeated attempts and some very impressive heel-holds and reaches he finally managed to climb up. Everyone congratulated him and we found out that he and his buddy were from the US. Blue and Pete were everything we weren’t – experienced, equipped and willing to lead rope routes. Desirae, Lisa and I are top-ropers only which basically means we follow a route that has been lead-roped previously which allows us much more room for error without the serious consequences involved in lead-roping.
After a little chatting we arranged to meet them the following day to climb. Now we were able to forego the expense of a guided lesson and spend a fraction of that money on renting a rope, belaying device, and another pair of shoes. The boys only required that we buy them a few beers that night.
The tourist in me wants to tell you the facts and figures – how much, how high, names of routes and their difficulties. And these are definitely part of the experience. Climbing four routes whose difficulties matched or exceeded our prior climbs is definitely worth mentioning. Having done that in the rock climbing mecca of Krabi, Thailand is certainly memorable. But travel to the traveler is more about the experience and the way that experience shapes not only your outlook of that activity or location but your overall outlook on life in general. It’s about the permanence of a lesson learned on the road.
Rock climbing is full of lessons that apply to life. There are the obvious lessons of trust and confidence and pushing your limits. Every route is a unique challenge and in order to ‘conquer’ that route you have to ignore the overall difficulty and divide the problem into manageable quantities – two feet at a time, find the next handhold, footwork, etc. Several times I’ve reached up to suddenly find myself at the top of the route and been completely surprised by this. I was so focused on the present, the here and now, that I had momentarily forgotten about the future. It wasn’t that I was ignoring my end goal – the top – but that I was so confident that every decision I was making was moving me towards that goal that I no longer needed to measure my progress based on anything other than my immediate efforts. How’s that for a lesson which should be applied to day-to-day life?
Rock climbing for me is an ideal activity because it allows me to push my ability, my limits and confidence in myself while simultaneously developing my trust in my companions. Both Lisa and Desirae have been my anchor and safety while climbing and I have held that rope for them as well. I knew I trusted them prior to rock climbing but it put that trust in prospective when I was hanging from the cliff face. A persons reactions, triumphs, and angry outbursts are on display when climbing and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not proud of how I handled every disappointment on the rock. It’s a bit of a wake up call on your reactions and personality really.
So, yes, I have climbed in the world famous Krabi, Thailand and I found it remarkable and exciting and all those other similarly expected terms. The tourist in me loved the fresh fish at in the restaurants at night and the hot shower in our room. The traveler in me can’t forget clearing my first route which requires taking town the hardware (i.e. carabiners) and transferring the rope to the equipment on the cliff – which sounds vague and uncomplicated but actually required more skill than I thought I had at the time. Turns out I was wrong which proved to me that with the right amount of faith in ones self and encouragement and instructions from your friends, you can reach heights that were previously unthought-of.
I'll continue this basic ideal of activity from the eyes of a traveler in the next two blogs as well but those remain as of yet unwritten. I would hope that I can finish up this section about Thailand and Southeast Asian travel in general before I head back but I promise to post the rest of my tales even after I return home.
Right now we are enjoying the sun and beautiful ocean views here in Sihanoukvill, Cambodia. Who knew Cambodia had such a beautiful coastline? We will leave tomorrow for Siem Reap the location of the famous Angkor Wat where we will meet our friend, Garrett from San Antonio.
Time is flying and soon I''ll be telling stories face to face with many of you. I hope that you are enjoying the blogs because I am enjoying writing them. Take care and God bless.
Love from the road...
Friday, July 18, 2008
Tuk-tuks, Trains and Transport Galor...
Like I said, I have decided to approach Thailand a little differently. I will be posting stories that have more to do with Southeast Asian travel in general so you will find a wide spectrum of countries and locations discussed in the upcoming blogs. Topics are also discussed in more general terms with more of an emphasis on "how" the experience made me feel and less emphasis on the "where" the experience happened. Let me know if you like this approach or if you find it 'boring' or 'tedious.'Feed back is always welcome.
On with the show!
America lacks creativity in the transportation department. Despite our obvious initial contributions of the car and airplane, we have fallen short in the area of creativity. The roads back home are filled with a never-ending parade of mass manufactured cars and trucks. People don’t travel by train anymore - tractors are only for the fields. And when is the last time you saw more than two people on a motorbike? Where are the tuk-tuks? The sawngthaews? The rickety buses filled with karaoke-singing locals? Does this all sound very foreign? That’s because it is…
Obviously the word ‘travel’ implies movement. Movement via foot or road or water. Via vehicles as varied as their inhabitants. Movement is the singular constant in a traveler’s life and so the mode of this movement becomes of particular interest to that traveler. When your days are filled with endless stretches of road you begin to pay a great deal of attention to what is taking you down that road.
Southeast Asia provides an enormous range of transportation techniques. You can’t turn a corner without being accosted by some well-meaning driver prepared to whisk you from point A to point B in his taxi, tuk-tuk, sawngthaew, bus, or moped. Transportation here is so available and so varied that it is indeed possible to take a boat, a taxi, and a train all in one day. I know this to be true because we did it. We boarded a modern fast-boat ferry in Malaysia, took a taxi to the border of Thailand, boarded a $2 train bound for Hat Yai and drug our exhausted feet down the busy streets of a new country – Thailand – all in less than 24 hours. Yes, it was a very long day.
But it isn’t only the shear array of transport via water, road and rail here in Asia – it’s the astounding variety and impressive creativity of the vehicles themselves. Some of these vehicles are familiar in name – buses, trains, ferries and the like – but as with all forms of “normal,” Southeast Asia has put its own spin on even these seemingly dull movement machines.
Take buses for example. Seems pretty straightforward right? A bus is the most common vehicle of mass transport worldwide. An elongated vehicle with numerous seats, the windows always sticking, the air stale the world over. Even in Southeast Asia the buses look like buses even if most of them are precariously close to complete breakdown. But it’s the interior of the bus that makes a Southeast Asian bus a Southeast Asian bus.
No bus, no matter how old or how decrepit it might be, is without cheap tacky polyester curtains. The practical purpose is of course to keep out that relentless sun but one has to question why they seem to have been required to use the world’s most hideous flowery designs in every puke-inducing color combination known to man. It’s like there is a factory somewhere deep in Thailand experimenting with hallucinogens and curtain design simultaneously. But even if you are color blind and fashion ignorant, you cannot avoid or ignore the even more universal characteristic of a Southeast Asian bus – the comic and horrific use of karaoke while en route.
Many a bus that appeared to be without basic necessities like seat cushions or windows that stay either up or down has been equipped with a color TV at the front above the driver and the requisite Thai Karaoke DVD Collection.
How can I possibly convey the feelings evoked when you realize that your next 6 hours of bumpy, winding roads will be accompanied by the sound track of your fellow traveler’s foreign voices singing to the ridiculously upbeat twang of Thailand’s version of hip-hop music? It can be humorous at best and mind-numbingly irritating at worst. After hours of watching the world’s worst love-drama videos played continuously at ear-splitting volumes one can begin to doubt one’s sanity. Especially when you realize you are actually trying to sing along!
But if buses aren’t your thing or if you prefer to travel at a slower pace that allows you to stare contently out the window at the passing scenery while a railcar full of locals stares just as contently at you, then trains are for you.
Ah, trains – the clickety-clack of the rails, the romantic rhythm of the tracks, the bad food, the growing restlessness… You see, I am new to this train travel thing. My knowledge of the railroads comes from old Merle Haggard songs and a few movies. And let me tell you, ol’ Merle never rode the rails in Southeast Asia. There are no hobos here – only locals laden with fruits and boxes and living creatures in cages. It is like a market on rails except that the main attraction here isn’t the stalls or the smells. It’s me, Lisa and Desirae. Those seated close stare directly at us and those unfortunate enough to be seated ahead or behind this Caucasian freak show made multiple trips to the bathroom or just walked by and gawked.
We took multiple trains in Thailand and despite the unwanted attention, the heat and the occasional two hour delay (can someone explain to me how a train is late?), I found a certain appeal to this mode of travel.
Unlike a bus, a train offers a limited amount of personal mobility. The scenery slides by instead of jolting and jerky along. And after a while I took the unceasing stares as permission to do a little staring of my own. The sweet-faced local that fell asleep on Lisa’s shoulder, the small boy hanging out of the window – his smile already reflecting the easy pleasantness of his country folk, the old couple who seemed to so thoroughly enjoy the food that looked inedible and tasted even worse – these are characters I have shared a railcar with. Characters whose nuances and expressions would have certainly been missed on a bus.
But the real joys of Southeast Asian travel and the true creativity contained therein are not expressed in these long distance modes of transportation. To really enjoy the flare and ingenuity of this region one has only to hop aboard that pinnacle of Southeast Asian transport – the infamous and ingenious tuk-tuk.
Tuk-tuk! What a great name. With a name like that you have to expect something enormously entertaining and inevitably annoying. And your expectations are not to be disappointed.
A tuk-tuk is not easy to define because of the variety and variation of the vehicle but there are certain shared qualities across the board. Almost all tuk-tuks originated from a motorcycle. The engines, handlebars, gearshifts, and brakes are either from a motorcycle, part of a motorcycle, or very similar to those on a motorcycle. So you can consider a motorcycle as the foundation.
On this foundation a number of additions and adaptations are added. Some tuk-tuks are simply a motorcycle which has had a large side-cart attached. Something like a wooden cart with one or two wheels and a bench or two strapped alongside your run of the mill Japanese or old Russian road bike. These rudimentary models are often associated with smaller, rural towns and often double as trailers for produce and materials.
But from this basic model the sky is the limit. A popular design in Thailand is the model which sports the front end of motorcycle – the single tire, handlebars, and driver sitting up front – but the back has two wheels and a bench that allows room for two or three people in a squeeze. The whole backside is covered by a cheap tin ‘roof.’ Most often the seats are covered in bright shades of cheap vinyl and the outside sports creative patterns of bright colors as well.
The sheer excess of these vehicles in Southeast Asia is astounding. They have a cult following all their own and it’s easy to see why. What other vehicle is specific to an area and shows so much variation and creativity? We saw models that ranged from the VW bug-like variety in Phitsanulok to the popular Laos model which has three benches in the back which often results in ‘overcrowding.’ On one such occasion, we had 7 people and their various boxes, bags, produce, etc. piled, seated, and hanging from the tuk-tuk. In Cambodia the tuk-tuks are actually trailers attached to the tail-end of a motorbike which gives them the appearance of some modern-day Cinderella carriage.
Naturally, they are all ridiculously loud and obnoxious with mufflers that rival the worst moped screech. And it seems that every Southeast Asian country has produced a class of males whose soul purpose is to drive tuk-tuks and harass passing tourist. I would almost swear that their first spoken words are “Where you go?” or “Tuk-tuk lady?” Their persistence is renown and for good reason. It’s like being followed by a pack of tireless three year olds. It’s irritating, infuriating, and frustrating but I know I will miss their endless calls which are as much a part of my Southeast Asian memories as fried rice and friendly smiles. My tuk-tuk memories will doubtlessly be nostalgic and pleasant despite having been ripped off by a driver multiple times and having to hold on with white knuckles as we zipped through traffic.
The transportation wonders in Southeast Asia are endless. There are sawngthaews, or jumbos, which are basically pickups with a bed covered by a high roof and modified to contain two or three benches in the bed. While the wind whipping through your hair while the crystal clear images of scenery flash by can sound romantic at first, this is a feeling that subsides quickly as more and more and more people, produce and packages are loaded on and the air becomes stifling within.
And of course there are the hordes of mopeds in every city, town and village zipping around like some swarm of irresponsible bees. It’s hard to imagine a day in Southeast Asia without the constant bbbbmmmmmmzzzzz of a moped in the background. If Southeast Asia was to have a soundtrack, the moped muffler would be it.
Then there are the two-wheel tractors with attached wooden trailers, the horse drawn carts, and a myriad of other homemade vehicles. It is truly a never-ending and ever-changing list.
And perhaps that is part of what draws restless travelers from the world over to this area. Transportation here is an art, movement a constant and elaborate part of life: principles that every traveler can identify with. If travel is movement and movement is transport then Southeast Asia is the king of travel indeed.
I know that stories like this would be best with a picture for reference but I'm not positive how to incorporate pictures onto my blog so you'll have to trust your imagination - or if you just can't figure out exactly what the heck a tuk-tuk is supposed to be, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw for a picture. Lisa has some great pics lined up for our time in Thailand so be sure to check our her photos when she posts them.
Alright I have one more blog for today then I'll leave you nice people alone for a while. :)
Love from the road...
On with the show!
America lacks creativity in the transportation department. Despite our obvious initial contributions of the car and airplane, we have fallen short in the area of creativity. The roads back home are filled with a never-ending parade of mass manufactured cars and trucks. People don’t travel by train anymore - tractors are only for the fields. And when is the last time you saw more than two people on a motorbike? Where are the tuk-tuks? The sawngthaews? The rickety buses filled with karaoke-singing locals? Does this all sound very foreign? That’s because it is…
Obviously the word ‘travel’ implies movement. Movement via foot or road or water. Via vehicles as varied as their inhabitants. Movement is the singular constant in a traveler’s life and so the mode of this movement becomes of particular interest to that traveler. When your days are filled with endless stretches of road you begin to pay a great deal of attention to what is taking you down that road.
Southeast Asia provides an enormous range of transportation techniques. You can’t turn a corner without being accosted by some well-meaning driver prepared to whisk you from point A to point B in his taxi, tuk-tuk, sawngthaew, bus, or moped. Transportation here is so available and so varied that it is indeed possible to take a boat, a taxi, and a train all in one day. I know this to be true because we did it. We boarded a modern fast-boat ferry in Malaysia, took a taxi to the border of Thailand, boarded a $2 train bound for Hat Yai and drug our exhausted feet down the busy streets of a new country – Thailand – all in less than 24 hours. Yes, it was a very long day.
But it isn’t only the shear array of transport via water, road and rail here in Asia – it’s the astounding variety and impressive creativity of the vehicles themselves. Some of these vehicles are familiar in name – buses, trains, ferries and the like – but as with all forms of “normal,” Southeast Asia has put its own spin on even these seemingly dull movement machines.
Take buses for example. Seems pretty straightforward right? A bus is the most common vehicle of mass transport worldwide. An elongated vehicle with numerous seats, the windows always sticking, the air stale the world over. Even in Southeast Asia the buses look like buses even if most of them are precariously close to complete breakdown. But it’s the interior of the bus that makes a Southeast Asian bus a Southeast Asian bus.
No bus, no matter how old or how decrepit it might be, is without cheap tacky polyester curtains. The practical purpose is of course to keep out that relentless sun but one has to question why they seem to have been required to use the world’s most hideous flowery designs in every puke-inducing color combination known to man. It’s like there is a factory somewhere deep in Thailand experimenting with hallucinogens and curtain design simultaneously. But even if you are color blind and fashion ignorant, you cannot avoid or ignore the even more universal characteristic of a Southeast Asian bus – the comic and horrific use of karaoke while en route.
Many a bus that appeared to be without basic necessities like seat cushions or windows that stay either up or down has been equipped with a color TV at the front above the driver and the requisite Thai Karaoke DVD Collection.
How can I possibly convey the feelings evoked when you realize that your next 6 hours of bumpy, winding roads will be accompanied by the sound track of your fellow traveler’s foreign voices singing to the ridiculously upbeat twang of Thailand’s version of hip-hop music? It can be humorous at best and mind-numbingly irritating at worst. After hours of watching the world’s worst love-drama videos played continuously at ear-splitting volumes one can begin to doubt one’s sanity. Especially when you realize you are actually trying to sing along!
But if buses aren’t your thing or if you prefer to travel at a slower pace that allows you to stare contently out the window at the passing scenery while a railcar full of locals stares just as contently at you, then trains are for you.
Ah, trains – the clickety-clack of the rails, the romantic rhythm of the tracks, the bad food, the growing restlessness… You see, I am new to this train travel thing. My knowledge of the railroads comes from old Merle Haggard songs and a few movies. And let me tell you, ol’ Merle never rode the rails in Southeast Asia. There are no hobos here – only locals laden with fruits and boxes and living creatures in cages. It is like a market on rails except that the main attraction here isn’t the stalls or the smells. It’s me, Lisa and Desirae. Those seated close stare directly at us and those unfortunate enough to be seated ahead or behind this Caucasian freak show made multiple trips to the bathroom or just walked by and gawked.
We took multiple trains in Thailand and despite the unwanted attention, the heat and the occasional two hour delay (can someone explain to me how a train is late?), I found a certain appeal to this mode of travel.
Unlike a bus, a train offers a limited amount of personal mobility. The scenery slides by instead of jolting and jerky along. And after a while I took the unceasing stares as permission to do a little staring of my own. The sweet-faced local that fell asleep on Lisa’s shoulder, the small boy hanging out of the window – his smile already reflecting the easy pleasantness of his country folk, the old couple who seemed to so thoroughly enjoy the food that looked inedible and tasted even worse – these are characters I have shared a railcar with. Characters whose nuances and expressions would have certainly been missed on a bus.
But the real joys of Southeast Asian travel and the true creativity contained therein are not expressed in these long distance modes of transportation. To really enjoy the flare and ingenuity of this region one has only to hop aboard that pinnacle of Southeast Asian transport – the infamous and ingenious tuk-tuk.
Tuk-tuk! What a great name. With a name like that you have to expect something enormously entertaining and inevitably annoying. And your expectations are not to be disappointed.
A tuk-tuk is not easy to define because of the variety and variation of the vehicle but there are certain shared qualities across the board. Almost all tuk-tuks originated from a motorcycle. The engines, handlebars, gearshifts, and brakes are either from a motorcycle, part of a motorcycle, or very similar to those on a motorcycle. So you can consider a motorcycle as the foundation.
On this foundation a number of additions and adaptations are added. Some tuk-tuks are simply a motorcycle which has had a large side-cart attached. Something like a wooden cart with one or two wheels and a bench or two strapped alongside your run of the mill Japanese or old Russian road bike. These rudimentary models are often associated with smaller, rural towns and often double as trailers for produce and materials.
But from this basic model the sky is the limit. A popular design in Thailand is the model which sports the front end of motorcycle – the single tire, handlebars, and driver sitting up front – but the back has two wheels and a bench that allows room for two or three people in a squeeze. The whole backside is covered by a cheap tin ‘roof.’ Most often the seats are covered in bright shades of cheap vinyl and the outside sports creative patterns of bright colors as well.
The sheer excess of these vehicles in Southeast Asia is astounding. They have a cult following all their own and it’s easy to see why. What other vehicle is specific to an area and shows so much variation and creativity? We saw models that ranged from the VW bug-like variety in Phitsanulok to the popular Laos model which has three benches in the back which often results in ‘overcrowding.’ On one such occasion, we had 7 people and their various boxes, bags, produce, etc. piled, seated, and hanging from the tuk-tuk. In Cambodia the tuk-tuks are actually trailers attached to the tail-end of a motorbike which gives them the appearance of some modern-day Cinderella carriage.
Naturally, they are all ridiculously loud and obnoxious with mufflers that rival the worst moped screech. And it seems that every Southeast Asian country has produced a class of males whose soul purpose is to drive tuk-tuks and harass passing tourist. I would almost swear that their first spoken words are “Where you go?” or “Tuk-tuk lady?” Their persistence is renown and for good reason. It’s like being followed by a pack of tireless three year olds. It’s irritating, infuriating, and frustrating but I know I will miss their endless calls which are as much a part of my Southeast Asian memories as fried rice and friendly smiles. My tuk-tuk memories will doubtlessly be nostalgic and pleasant despite having been ripped off by a driver multiple times and having to hold on with white knuckles as we zipped through traffic.
The transportation wonders in Southeast Asia are endless. There are sawngthaews, or jumbos, which are basically pickups with a bed covered by a high roof and modified to contain two or three benches in the bed. While the wind whipping through your hair while the crystal clear images of scenery flash by can sound romantic at first, this is a feeling that subsides quickly as more and more and more people, produce and packages are loaded on and the air becomes stifling within.
And of course there are the hordes of mopeds in every city, town and village zipping around like some swarm of irresponsible bees. It’s hard to imagine a day in Southeast Asia without the constant bbbbmmmmmmzzzzz of a moped in the background. If Southeast Asia was to have a soundtrack, the moped muffler would be it.
Then there are the two-wheel tractors with attached wooden trailers, the horse drawn carts, and a myriad of other homemade vehicles. It is truly a never-ending and ever-changing list.
And perhaps that is part of what draws restless travelers from the world over to this area. Transportation here is an art, movement a constant and elaborate part of life: principles that every traveler can identify with. If travel is movement and movement is transport then Southeast Asia is the king of travel indeed.
I know that stories like this would be best with a picture for reference but I'm not positive how to incorporate pictures onto my blog so you'll have to trust your imagination - or if you just can't figure out exactly what the heck a tuk-tuk is supposed to be, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw for a picture. Lisa has some great pics lined up for our time in Thailand so be sure to check our her photos when she posts them.
Alright I have one more blog for today then I'll leave you nice people alone for a while. :)
Love from the road...
Once Upon a Time in Thailand...
Hello Everyone!
We found our way to Cambodia and our time in Laos is done. It was a great country, one of my favorites in many ways, and now our trip is really winding down! I will be back in the good ol' USA before you know it.
Even though I haven't posted a blog in a while that doesn't mean I've been falling behind on writing them. I am going to post three - yes, three - blogs today all of which have to do with Thailand.
For those of you still reading these increasingly long winded tales I hope you enjoy the next few blogs. I'm approaching these a little different as you will soon see. Spice it up a bit right?
So here we go...
Thailand – the land of smiles, of beautiful beaches and backpacker legends, of dainty lady boys and enormous elephants. It was the first of the Southeast Asian countries to embrace the backpacker subculture and the tourism trade and therefore it was the first to show the signs of misuse and abuse. There is something forced and fake about parts of Thailand as if they wear a mask of ‘culture’ to meet the expectations of the farang (foreigner) that crowd their streets and beaches. But I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot here. Thailand had an immense amount of things to offer. A month there barely scraped the edge of the iceberg but that scrape was memorable and amazing.
As with all the countries we have visited it is impossible to summarize our time in Thailand without writing pages and pages but the best I can do is to say that my time in Thailand was a tantalizing taste that left me wanting more.
You see, Thailand has a tourist trail worn so smooth and flat that it is becoming increasingly difficult to depart from that route. There are obvious reasons for this: A. Transportation to and from the most popular areas is easy, simple and cheap – three words that every backpacker lives by. B. These popular places are amazing and beautiful and no amount of tourism can completely erase their charm. And for these reasons many an intrepid traveler has stumbled into Thailand with all the intents and purposes of stepping off the beaten track but eventually they plod down the same trail as their peers, Thailand’s very own path of least resistance. And we did the same.
Our time in Thailand could have been straight out of the Lonely Planet itinerary. We hit many of the best known highlights with a steadfast commitment. While our inability to depart from that tourist trail is disappointing at first glance, I must admit that I really did enjoy my time in Thailand and if that makes me an unimaginative traveler then so be it.
Take a look at Thailand on the map and the trail is not hard to find. We crossed over from Malaysia in the south and stopped in the non-descript city of Hot Yai before making a beeline for Krabi.
Krabi is an area comprised of multiple beaches. We stayed on Railay Beach in Krabi which is located on the tail end of the small archipelago on the west coast of Thailand that draws sun worshippers and cliff hangers in equal amounts. Only accessible by boat, this sunny beach-bound strip of land has such an island atmosphere that it is easy to forget that you aren’t in the middle of the ocean. By day a rabid sun scorches the white sands of the shoreline. The only reprieve is the cool blues of the warm tropical waters. The landscape is dramatic. Limestone cliffs and pinnacles jut above the horizon or rise spectacularly from the jaded blue of the ocean’s surface. The outstanding rock climbing of the area draws its usual charismatic and adventuresome types who inhabit the rasta bars and restaurants by night, their muscles taunt and sore from the days efforts. It was an island paradise attached to land.
From there we headed to Phuket on Thailand’s tsunami ravaged west coast. Devastation still scars the land in ways both visible and invisible. There are oddly clear areas where the tree line was forced upward by the shear furry of nature’s force. There is a silent echo of despair that still reverberates on some of Phuket’s street. “We were here. We saw it all,” it seems to whisper. One has to pause here on the side of tourist trail and wander at the horror that occurred. Testimonies of human resilience and nature’s power stand side by side.
From east to west – we went from Phuket to Koh Tao, the world renown scuba training island which, like much of Thailand, absolutely lived up to the hype. Advertised as a picturesque island surrounded by clear calm waters that make it ideal for scuba diving. Diving centers on Koh Tao certify more divers than anywhere else in the world with the exception of Cairns, Australia, quite an impressive figure for an island so small.
We traveled by boat and then bus to Bangkok, the center of the backpacking universe. A city so embedded in Southeast Asian lore that one cannot avoid its sights, streets and markets. There is overwhelming and then there is sense-shocking overload. Bangkok definitely falls into the latter with its prominent sexuality, crowded streets, and vendors selling everything from knock-off t-shirts to grilled grasshoppers. And amidst all this craziness you are likely to find elaborate and highly decorated wats (Buddhist temples). From the famous Koh San Road’s “Las Vegas gone dingy” neon to Wat ?? enormous reclining Buddha, Bangkok is a maze of winding streets and contradictions.
Bangkok was Desirae’s departure point and we were sad to see her go but happy to have shared our time traveling with her. She provided invaluable experience and ‘know-how’ in this land which was so new and so foreign to Lisa and I.
And we never left the trail. From Bangkok it was one long train to Phitsanulok. It was here that we were able to visit the beautiful temple gardens of Sukhothai, a World Heritage Site. Ancient and elegant, those gardens reflected the pride of a kingdom past. In its well preserved chetis and Buddha images one can still see that proud heritage.
Our road led on to charming Chiang Mai, a city both old and new with personality bubbling out of the ex-pat cafes and shining in the light of the night market stalls. We found much to do around Chiang Mai indulging in a local cooking course and paying a visit to one of Thailand’s famed elephant parks. Chiang Mai’s refreshing cool nights and deep-seeded culture boosted our spirits for the final week in Thailand.
Our port of exit was the characterless town of Chiang Rai which had little of its neighboring Chiang Mai’s charm. It was our last layover on our route to Laos.
And those are the places we saw. An in-depth description of each town might help to define my outlook on Thailand but I doubt it. You see, Thailand’s appeal is in the details – in the transportation, in the variation of activities, in the exotic and exciting markets, and in the historic and elaborate wats and temples. These are Thailand in my mind, not names on a map or roads or railways. Thailand is something you do and experience – not just some place you visit. And in the spirit of that I would like to share those experiences with you.
And this is only the beginning...
Love from the road.
We found our way to Cambodia and our time in Laos is done. It was a great country, one of my favorites in many ways, and now our trip is really winding down! I will be back in the good ol' USA before you know it.
Even though I haven't posted a blog in a while that doesn't mean I've been falling behind on writing them. I am going to post three - yes, three - blogs today all of which have to do with Thailand.
For those of you still reading these increasingly long winded tales I hope you enjoy the next few blogs. I'm approaching these a little different as you will soon see. Spice it up a bit right?
So here we go...
Thailand – the land of smiles, of beautiful beaches and backpacker legends, of dainty lady boys and enormous elephants. It was the first of the Southeast Asian countries to embrace the backpacker subculture and the tourism trade and therefore it was the first to show the signs of misuse and abuse. There is something forced and fake about parts of Thailand as if they wear a mask of ‘culture’ to meet the expectations of the farang (foreigner) that crowd their streets and beaches. But I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot here. Thailand had an immense amount of things to offer. A month there barely scraped the edge of the iceberg but that scrape was memorable and amazing.
As with all the countries we have visited it is impossible to summarize our time in Thailand without writing pages and pages but the best I can do is to say that my time in Thailand was a tantalizing taste that left me wanting more.
You see, Thailand has a tourist trail worn so smooth and flat that it is becoming increasingly difficult to depart from that route. There are obvious reasons for this: A. Transportation to and from the most popular areas is easy, simple and cheap – three words that every backpacker lives by. B. These popular places are amazing and beautiful and no amount of tourism can completely erase their charm. And for these reasons many an intrepid traveler has stumbled into Thailand with all the intents and purposes of stepping off the beaten track but eventually they plod down the same trail as their peers, Thailand’s very own path of least resistance. And we did the same.
Our time in Thailand could have been straight out of the Lonely Planet itinerary. We hit many of the best known highlights with a steadfast commitment. While our inability to depart from that tourist trail is disappointing at first glance, I must admit that I really did enjoy my time in Thailand and if that makes me an unimaginative traveler then so be it.
Take a look at Thailand on the map and the trail is not hard to find. We crossed over from Malaysia in the south and stopped in the non-descript city of Hot Yai before making a beeline for Krabi.
Krabi is an area comprised of multiple beaches. We stayed on Railay Beach in Krabi which is located on the tail end of the small archipelago on the west coast of Thailand that draws sun worshippers and cliff hangers in equal amounts. Only accessible by boat, this sunny beach-bound strip of land has such an island atmosphere that it is easy to forget that you aren’t in the middle of the ocean. By day a rabid sun scorches the white sands of the shoreline. The only reprieve is the cool blues of the warm tropical waters. The landscape is dramatic. Limestone cliffs and pinnacles jut above the horizon or rise spectacularly from the jaded blue of the ocean’s surface. The outstanding rock climbing of the area draws its usual charismatic and adventuresome types who inhabit the rasta bars and restaurants by night, their muscles taunt and sore from the days efforts. It was an island paradise attached to land.
From there we headed to Phuket on Thailand’s tsunami ravaged west coast. Devastation still scars the land in ways both visible and invisible. There are oddly clear areas where the tree line was forced upward by the shear furry of nature’s force. There is a silent echo of despair that still reverberates on some of Phuket’s street. “We were here. We saw it all,” it seems to whisper. One has to pause here on the side of tourist trail and wander at the horror that occurred. Testimonies of human resilience and nature’s power stand side by side.
From east to west – we went from Phuket to Koh Tao, the world renown scuba training island which, like much of Thailand, absolutely lived up to the hype. Advertised as a picturesque island surrounded by clear calm waters that make it ideal for scuba diving. Diving centers on Koh Tao certify more divers than anywhere else in the world with the exception of Cairns, Australia, quite an impressive figure for an island so small.
We traveled by boat and then bus to Bangkok, the center of the backpacking universe. A city so embedded in Southeast Asian lore that one cannot avoid its sights, streets and markets. There is overwhelming and then there is sense-shocking overload. Bangkok definitely falls into the latter with its prominent sexuality, crowded streets, and vendors selling everything from knock-off t-shirts to grilled grasshoppers. And amidst all this craziness you are likely to find elaborate and highly decorated wats (Buddhist temples). From the famous Koh San Road’s “Las Vegas gone dingy” neon to Wat ?? enormous reclining Buddha, Bangkok is a maze of winding streets and contradictions.
Bangkok was Desirae’s departure point and we were sad to see her go but happy to have shared our time traveling with her. She provided invaluable experience and ‘know-how’ in this land which was so new and so foreign to Lisa and I.
And we never left the trail. From Bangkok it was one long train to Phitsanulok. It was here that we were able to visit the beautiful temple gardens of Sukhothai, a World Heritage Site. Ancient and elegant, those gardens reflected the pride of a kingdom past. In its well preserved chetis and Buddha images one can still see that proud heritage.
Our road led on to charming Chiang Mai, a city both old and new with personality bubbling out of the ex-pat cafes and shining in the light of the night market stalls. We found much to do around Chiang Mai indulging in a local cooking course and paying a visit to one of Thailand’s famed elephant parks. Chiang Mai’s refreshing cool nights and deep-seeded culture boosted our spirits for the final week in Thailand.
Our port of exit was the characterless town of Chiang Rai which had little of its neighboring Chiang Mai’s charm. It was our last layover on our route to Laos.
And those are the places we saw. An in-depth description of each town might help to define my outlook on Thailand but I doubt it. You see, Thailand’s appeal is in the details – in the transportation, in the variation of activities, in the exotic and exciting markets, and in the historic and elaborate wats and temples. These are Thailand in my mind, not names on a map or roads or railways. Thailand is something you do and experience – not just some place you visit. And in the spirit of that I would like to share those experiences with you.
And this is only the beginning...
Love from the road.
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